Wire tension adjuster

ABSTRACT

A wire tension adjuster includes an adjuster bolt that has a through-hole, such that a wire engages in the through-hole and a wire shaft for forming wire tension by winding the wire on an outer peripheral surface thereof is provided to easily perform an assembly work of the wire which is laid out so as to maintain predetermined tension on a wire clamp and in particular, when the wire is assembled, a consumer claim can be fundamentally prevented by removing a wire damage possibility which may occur in spite of the worker himself/herself and noise of the wire can be fundamentally prevented from being due to tension cancellation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority of Korean Patent Application Number 10-2011-0129407 filed Dec. 6, 2011, the entire contents of which application is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a wire tension adjuster, and more particularly, to a wire tension adjuster which can be assembled in a bolt fastening method while tension of a wound wire is maintained.

2. Description of Related Art

In general, a window regulator or a door module of a door having a motor should adopt wires for power supplying and a control signal and layouts of the wires are generally maintained to have tight tension.

To this end, the wire uses the window regulator or the door module which is a component laid out together therewith and is suspended while tension is formed.

A work for forming the layout of the wire is generally performed by a worker's performing the work with his/her hand or using an additional appropriate tool.

For example, FIG. 4 shows a case in which a worker performs a wiring work with his/her own hand.

In this case, worker W pulls a wire 200 that extends in a module 100 and thereafter, suspends pulled wire 200 on a protruded pulley 110 of module 100 to form and maintain appropriate tension on wire 200.

On the contrary, FIG. 5 shows a case in which the worker performs the wiring work by using an additional tool.

In this case, the worker pulls wire 200 that extends in module 100 by using an additional tool T and thereafter, suspends pulled wire 200 on protruded pulley 110 of module 100 to form and maintain appropriate tension on wire 200.

However, as described above, the worker catches and extends the wire with his/her hand, such that a slight inconvenient work process cannot but be performed and in particular, the worker strongly pulls and suspends the wire by using the additional tool, such that a risk that the wire will be damaged increases.

FIG. 6 shows a case in which the wire is damaged (K) according to the working result.

The damage K of wire 200 frequently occurs through a front end portion t of tool T, in particular, when additional tool T is used as shown in FIG. 5.

However, in general, damage K of wire 200 does not occur during assembling, but wire 200 is installed and thereafter, wire 200 is damaged in an operation state, and as a result, damage K cannot be checked during the work process.

The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Various aspects of the present invention provide for a wire tension adjuster in which a wire is wound to maintain tension and the wire is coupled to a module by a bolt joining method in this state to further facilitate an assembly process of a worker and in particular, during the assembly process, a damage possibility of the wire which may occur in spite of a worker himself/herself can be fully removed.

Various aspects of the present invention provide for a wire tension adjuster, including: a bolt shaft that engages in a bolt hole penetrated at a wire position end of a wire clamp where a wire is arranged; and a wire shaft that extends from the bolt shaft penetrating the bolt hole so that the wire positioned on a wire step surface linked to the wire position end to form an opened space is wound.

A head having a larger diameter than the bolt shaft may be further formed on the bolt shaft and a through-hole through which the wire is penetrated may be further penetrated on the wire shaft.

An end portion of the wire shaft may engage in a groove formed at a wire position end portion of the wire clamp and the end portion of the wire shaft and the groove may forcibly engage in each other.

According to various aspects of the present invention, since a bolt can be coupled in a bolt joining method while the wire is wound to maintain tension, an assembly process of a worker is easier and in particular, a damage possibility of the wire which may occur in spite of the worker himself/herself can be fully removed during an assembly process.

Further, wire tension is formed and maintained by winding the wire, such that noise of the wire can be fundamentally prevented due to tension cancellation even after a long-term operation.

In addition, the wire is prevented from being damaged during the assembly process to fundamentally prevent a consumer claim depending on the broken wire and improve merchantable quality.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an exemplary wire tension adjuster according to the present invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show an exemplary wire layout assembly process using the wire tension adjuster according to the present invention.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a wire layout assembly process in the related art.

FIG. 6 shows a wire damage state due to a wire assembly process in the related art.

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.

In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a wire tension adjuster is configured by one adjuster bolt 1 having a bolt type, adjuster bolt 1 is assembled to a wire clamp 10 with a wire position end 11 where a wire 20 is positioned, and adjuster bolt 1 is joined while tension of wire 20 is maintained in the assembled state.

Wire clamp 10 refers to a window regulator or a door module portion requiring the state in which the wire has the tension and refers to all components of a vehicle requiring wire clamp 10.

Referring to FIG. 1B, wire position end 11 is formed at one edge portion of wire clamp 10, wire position end 11 has a bolt hole 12, and a wire step surface 13 where adjuster bolt 1 wound with wire 20 is positioned is formed in the rear of bolt hole 12.

Herein, wire step surface 13 has a structure opened to a space to verify wire 20 with the naked eye and put a worker's finger.

Adjuster bolt 1 includes a hexagonal head 2, a bolt shaft 3 connected to head 2, and a wire shaft 4 in which a through-hole 5 into which wire 20 can be inserted in connection with bolt shaft 3 is penetrated.

Therefore, wire shaft 4 winds wire 20 inserted into through-hole 5 to adjust the tension of wire 20 in an appropriate state.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 2A, adjuster bolt 1 is assembled to wire clamp 10.

Therefrom, wire 20 is wound on adjuster bolt 1 to be maintained with appropriate tension and adjuster bolt 1 is joined with wire clamp 10 by using bolt hole 12 of wire position end 11.

The aforementioned assembly fixation is implemented through FIGS. 2B and 2C.

FIG. 2B shows a state in which adjuster bolt 1 engages in bolt hole 12 of wire position end 11 and wire shaft 4 that extends from bolt shaft 3 of adjuster bolt 1 is positioned at wire step surface 13 side of wire position end 11.

In this state, the worker inserts an end portion of wire 20 arranged at wire position end 11 and positioned up to wire step surface 13 into through-hole 5 penetrated on wire shaft 4 and thereafter, rotates adjuster bolt 1 in some degree.

FIG. 2C shows a state in which adjuster bolt 1 rotates to form the wire tension by winding wire 20 on wire shaft 4.

When the worker feels the tension of wire 20 as described above, the worker applies force F to adjuster bolt 1 to push adjuster bolt 1 as shown in FIG. 3A, thereby completing the assembly.

In this case, the end portion of wire shaft 4 of adjuster bolt 1 engages in a groove (alternatively, hole) formed at wire position end 11 of wire clamp 10 to form a fixation state and the end portion of wire shaft 4 forcibly engages in the groove (alternatively, hole) in some degree in order to form the fixation state.

In this state, wire 20 engages in through-hole 5 to be wound on wire shaft 4, and as a result, as shown in FIG. 3B, wire 20 is assembled while maintaining a layout in which the tension is formed along wire position end 11 of wire clamp 10.

As described above, adjuster bolt 1 according to the various embodiments has through-hole 5, such that wire 20 may engage in through-hole 5 and wire shaft 4 for forming the wire tension by winding wire 20 on the outer peripheral surface thereof is provided to easily perform the assembly work of wire 20 which is laid out so as to maintain predetermined tension on wire clamp 10.

In particular, when wire 20 is assembled, a consumer claim can be fundamentally prevented by removing a wire damage possibility which may occur in spite of the worker himself/herself and noise of the wire can be fundamentally prevented from being due to tension cancellation.

For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms upper or lower, front or rear, inside or outside, and etc. are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents. 

1. A wire tension adjuster, comprising: a wire clamp including a wire position end at which a wire is arranged, the wire position end including a bolt hole penetrating therethrough; a bolt shaft received within the bolt hole; and a wire shaft that extends from the bolt shaft penetrating the bolt hole so that the wire arranged at the wire position end is positioned on a wire step surface linked to the wire position end to form an opened space in which the wire is wound about the wire shaft.
 2. The wire tension adjuster as defined in claim 1, wherein a head having a larger diameter than the bolt shaft is formed on the bolt shaft and a through-hole through which the wire is penetrated is further penetrated on the wire shaft.
 3. The wire tension adjuster as defined in claim 2, wherein an end portion of the wire shaft engages in a groove formed at a wire position end portion of the wire clamp.
 4. The wire tension adjuster as defined in claim 3, wherein the end portion of the wire shaft and the groove forcibly engage in each other.
 5. (canceled) 